Al Capone Suffered Miserably From Brain Syphilis That Made Him Function Like A 12 Year Old

4 Capone was diagnosed with multiple STD in jail

Capone was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was sent to the Atlanta US Penitentiary in May 1932. When he entered Prison, he was diagnosed with Syphilis and Gonorrhea as well as a cocaine perforated Septum. In jail, Capone was treated well where he stitched shoes. He was also known as a weak and frail man who suffered bullying in jail. Authorities soon decided to send Capone to the maximum security prison Alcatraz fearing that he may file a habeas corpus to get out of jail citing a court appearance. 

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5 Capone’s mind started degenerating in Alcatraz

By 1934, and in Alcatraz, Capone was slowly but surely losing mind. He became erratic, moody and depressed because of loneliness. He was always paranoid and feared for his life. His fears were not unfounded because he was even stabbed by an inmate and hospitalized.

Capone had also become delusional and held conversations with God. He found it difficult to walk and speak easily. In 1938, he had to be put into the mental ward at Alcatraz where he also got into a bizarre fight with another inmate where they continued to throw feces at each other. One inmate recalled how Capone would confine himself to his cell and keep making his bunk over and over again. Authorities were by now concerned about his steady decline. He was soon released to another facility at the famous Terminal Island.

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6 He was released ahead of his jail term for good behavior but primarily because of illness

Capone though mentally unstable, behaved well and regularly went to church. He was released from Alcatraz early for good behavior and set to a facility at Terminal Island in California. On November 16, 1939, He was officially released and sent home to his own estate in Miami Florida.

During his time at Terminal Island and in the last months at Alcatraz he underwent different treatments that attempted to cure him. He was given various injections like bismuth, malaria and tryparsamide in hopes that inducing fever would cure the syphilis but nothing worked. He now suffered form neurosyphilis making him thoroughly delusional and confused. Al Capone died of Syphilis that ultimately took control of his brain.

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7 No amount of treatment and doctors could cure him and he also became violent

Capone lived the rest if his life at home in Miami and was taken care of by his wife Mae. He underwent treatment at Union memorial Hospital Baltimore under the care of the best syphilis expert in the country Doctor Joseph Moore. During the early forties, Capone also went on various vacations with his family across the USA and that contributed too much of his decline. Doctor Moore even once expressed his concern in a letter to a colleague saying that Capone should be kept away in a mental institution as he could be penalized for his outbursts against strangers. He was also in dire need of a male nurse to control him.

His health deteriorated further and he often had seizures. Dr Moore was able to procure penicillin for him that became available at the time but the syphilis had eaten too far into his brain. 

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